FINA Water Polo World League

Men's league play began in 2002, to capitalize on increased worldwide popularity of water polo created by the 2000 Olympic Games, especially in Europe, North America, and Australia. The women's league was added in 2004, based on growing interest in women's play.

In October 2022, FINA announced that the tournament would be replaced with the FINA Water Polo World Cup and FINA Women's Water Polo World Cup from 2023 on.

Play format

Matches consisted of four eight-minute quarters, with a five-minute half-time break. Tie games were decided by an immediate penalty shootout. The game venues had television requirements to bring the sport to the biggest audience possible. Rule changes were made to provide more spectacular play and yield higher scores.

Preliminary rounds of play were organized by continent: Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe. The structure of continental play varied within the league. For example, for 2012, the Americas had a single tournament for each sex, Asia/Oceania has two tournaments for each sex on consecutive weekends, and Europe has six weekends of play for men and two for women.